DDI Changes - PH3 Previews! New price

[Greatwyrm]

I'll take this to mean two things:

1. DDI is a phenomenal success
2. Books aren't selling as well as expected

Right now, Monster Manual 2 is at #10 on the Amazon Sci-Fi/Fantasy bestseller list. Many authors would kill for that level of failure.

A third thing can be sort of deducted - they need more money NOW, and their need is sufficiently great to force them to ruin the sales of one flagship product (PH3) a year in advance in order to push another flagship product (DDI).

Seriously, how many people will actually buy PH3 if complete parts thereof will be available on DDI (and, consequently, on pirate sites) for a year or so?

I'd say plenty of people would. The three core books sold just fine after pdfs of each appeared on file sharing networks. Actually, the initial marketing was so lackluster, I know more than one person who was convinced to buy-in only after seeing the pdfs.

And assuming PH3 will be similar in size to PH2, they'll only be releasing a little less than half of it in previews. I really don't think that'll cause much of an issue if people bought the core books when they had complete pdfs to begin with.

In other news, I have trouble seeing DDI as a flagship product. Maybe a companion product, but DDI just can't carry the brand by itself. I'm not saying that as a negative (I enjoy DDI), just that its probably not intended to be in that role.

 

[fanboy2000]

What makes this a bitter pill for me is that I'm still waiting to see the website made over to look like the major asset it's supposed to be. Anyone else remember Michael's Sigler's review of the DDI website from about a year ago? And very little has changed. Still still lots of Web Design 101 technical and aestetic gaffes, such as incongruent elements using ugly and dingy colors (who out there loves the color of corroded metal?), features that are only identified by little lines of text crammed in different areas, and it's still hard to use the archive and search features. WotC houses a lot of great talent, so it's really a shame they can't together and give their portal a facelift.

I hate the website. Thought, I suspect I dislike it for different reasons. Ascetics don't bother me. (What's wrong with the color of corroded metal? I like it.) What bothers me is that it's one of the few websites left that I have to jury-rig solutions for. I use Safari and two things stick out at me as bad design: 1) There is a permeant horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the webpage; and 2) I can't download the Dragon/Dungeon pdfs. I used to be able to, but not anymore. If I want to download a pdf, I have to use Firefox.

Other than that, the DDI portion of the website is amazingly accessible for someone using a Mac. All the flash tools work as excepted. I love it.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Does anyone know if the gameday adventures are available for download on DDI?

I find the site very challenging to navigate.

I still haven't figured out how to get the RPGA-LFR adventures. The RPGA site needs some serious attention.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I still haven't figured out how to get the RPGA-LFR adventures. The RPGA site needs some serious attention.

Yeah, I don't understand why an RPGA membership doesn't just come with the DDI.

And as for the RPGA/Game Day/Delve/etc modules and so forth -- well, it's free/promotional stuff anyway. Might as well make them available to paying subscribers.

 

[Sammael]

I never referred to the sales of D&D books as a failure. I don't think they are a failure.

What I meant by "Books aren't selling as well as expected" is that Hasbro's target sales haven't been met.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

You really believe that Hasbro sets target sales numbers for individual products of a subcompany?

 

[Stalker0]

I also think $10 a month is too much money for their current offerings. I ALWAYS though $15 a month was too much way back when.

In a time when a single two hour movie ticket costs me more than an entire month of dnd content, I just can't see how $10 is expensive.

Heck, I have paid more than that for a single trip to McDonald's.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

In, I think, October 2008 WotC announced that the price for DDI was an introductory offer they made because the formerly announced tools were not ready. There would be an increase, but if you bought you subscription then, they'd throw in all the additional stuff released during your subscription.

Baesd on that information I bought a one year subscription of e-Dragon and e-Dungeon while hoping that the Charcter Builder would see the light of the day early enough for me to profit from it.

Now that the CB has been released I feel I've made a good deal. Had it not been released, I'd not extend my subscription because I don't get as much use out of the zines as I'd expected.

The increase in price was announced about half a year ago. WotC's offer to extend my subscription for the introductory is just cool. The announced surplus material from PHB3 doesn't excite me, but the option to have one more year access to the CB and a handfull of Dungeon adventures for the current price is still a good deal for me.

Important for me is what I'm getting right now. The hazy announcement of campaign management tools is nothing more like an election poster. I'll not base my decisoin on a pretty face and a vaguely formulated goal, but on what is delivered right now. And for this, the price is good.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Given that it's clear I can extend my current subscription for an additional year at the same price I'm currently paying, and that I'm currently very happy with what I'm getting, I really have no problem with paying a bit more in just over a year's time.

 

[wedgeski]

We've basically been waiting for a few months to hear about the price changes and what Wizards have done here is a good, fair deal. The full annual renewal price is a bargain, I have no problem paying that for what I'm getting right now (I use the CB, Compendium, and Dungeon very heavily).

I would like to see the web site redesigned. It's perfectly usable but like others have said, it isn't the showpiece it should be.